Big Church - Practical

Shawna's notes on the practical side of Big Church opportunities and needs.  For the audio of her message click here or go to rvwc.podbean.com and listen there.

The Holy Spirit empowers believers with boldness for witness and with abilities to strengthen the church. These abilities are called spiritual gifts because they are given by the Spirit of God.
Today I want to talk about these abilities in the context of big church.  

The primary purposes of our big church gatherings are worship, teaching and celebration.  Dave covered this on the last two Sundays.  In order to help us to focus on these things on Sunday, there are a bunch of other things that take place behind the scenes in preparation for this gathering. Much like how you would prepare if you were having people over.  You would get things ready for when they arrive. Today we’re going to look at some of the behind the scenes work and spiritual gifts.

Ephesians 4:11-16 says that God gave apostle, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for acts of ministry (service).  These people are often visible when we gather, and because of that, we often see them as doing front line ministry or ministry that is more important than others. But they are not the only people with things to do in the context of big church. There is a place for many.

This verse clearly says that these people are to prepare God’s people for works of service.  It is all of God’s people who are front line ministers.  If anything these guys are at the back of the line, preparing people and sending them out. They are not superstars, they are servants.

This is shown in Romans 12.  The Bible uses many different metaphors for our relationship with each other and our role in family of God.  In this context he uses body parts, in another he uses family and so on...but they all show our connectedness and our interdependence.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

This is why we must use our gifts and abilities-because we belong to each other.  Just sitting in the gathering week after week is not an option - we each have a function. God has something for us to do.  If we are not using our abilities to strengthen the body, then what is stopping us?  If we feel stopped by fear, hangups from your past church backgrounds, apathy, or anything else, we need to realize that is not of God. Fear is from the devil. The opposite of fear is joy and love. Sometimes we have to step out in order to overcome fear and apathy.  If God is telling us it is time to do something, we need to listen and obey and trust that he will take care of that. Quit making excuses because when we join the family, we belong to others.  We no longer belong to ourself. 

Paul goes on to look at how we serve.  Have you ever seen people serving and they act as though they are having a root canal or something?  Will serving always be easy, nope. But when God is involved, there should be joy, peace and love in it. 

6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Paul says that ministering is really about our heart and we need to do it with all we have and not be lazy.  He says take responsibility for what you have been given.

There are ways in this body that are behind the scenes.  No one  usually sees those who clean the building, but the Big Church has been served by having a clean place to gather. No one sees you but your heavenly Father does. And he sees your heart as your doing this act.  

This year our driveway has taken a beating.  On May 24th @ we will be meeting to do some outdoor maintenance. Please see Dave Clark if you are going to help with this.  There are so many ways you can serve and use your gifts in Big Church

Media - At the back you can help with sound/media shout.  You can also work on the website and other methods of communication. If you have technical abilities and would like to develop new things please see me or Mike.

Kids - You can teach and work with the kids downstairs. This is less behind the scenes because teaching is a focus with Big Church.  If your would like to help see Katrina

Cleaning - as already mentioned.  Join a cleaning team or even organize the teams. There will be an inside spring cleaning day too in June TBD. Please see me.

Counting the money and working in the office. See CANDACE or MICHELE

Coffee Time - Creating an environment for celebration.  Relaxing, inviting, hospitable. See RACHEL

Please do not think that just because someone is already doing something that there is no room for you.  There is room. we belong to one another and we need to take the abilities that God has given us, and be serious about putting it to use.

And why do we need to be serious about it?

Let’s go back to the top Romans 12:1-2: Romans says  In view of God’s mercy, present your bodies as living sacrifices.  Holy and pleasing to God because this is your reasonable act of worship. Present all that you have to God. The Father gave us everything.  He sent his son to die for us.  And then the Son Jesus gave his life for us.  Submitting our bodies to God is our reasonable act of worship because of all he has done for us.  

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to talk about small church which is going to be exciting, but this week pray.

The assignment for this week is to meditate on is Romans 12 and ask, what does this mean for me?